Winter Song
by kia-johns32
Summary: Spencer is starting in a new town, with new friends, and new experiences, but one thing is missing....Spashley.


_Hello my lovely readers. I'm sorryt hat I haven't updated my stories in so long. To be honest, when school is in there is no chance that I can update. College life is way too demanding, and this is just a fun side hobby. However, here is a new idea that I had for a Spashley story. I hope you enjoy it. I will also work on updating some of my other stories in the next few months too.  
_

**Winter Song**

**Chapter One**

I hate the cold. If there's anything that you need to understand about me, it's that. I lived in Los Angeles for so many years that I thought the heat would never leave my bones, but after only two months, Massachusetts has proved my wrong. All the heat I thought defined me has been replaced by never-ending cold, and rain, and snow. I bend down and tighten the strings on my snow boats, trying my hardest to listen to the girl sitting beside me. Her name is Evan. She's pretty much my only friend here in Hadley. She's sweet, sometimes sarcastic, and all around hilarious, but sometimes I can't help but drift off when she's talking. I can't help but drift off every moment when I'm not with _her_. This move has not been treating me well.

"You know what I mean Spence?" Evan finishes, and I'm ripped from my thoughts.

"Yeah totally," I answer, taking a sip from my coffee, and Evan just rolls her eyes.

"You weren't even listening butthead," she says quietly, swirling the straw around in her soda.

"I'm sorry Evan. Today has just been a long day," I offer with a smile.

"Don't you mean it's been a long two months..." she muses, looking out the window. I follow her gaze. She's watching two small boys lure a kitten out from behind a building with a shoe string. The kitten swats at the string occasionally, and attempts to pounce on it, but the boys pull it away right before she can touch it. I smile.

……………………………..

"_Come on Spence," Ashley says tugging on my hand. "We should so get a kitten!"I give her a lazy smile and pull her away from the pet shop window._

"_It's funny how when you say we, you mean me," I counter, with a chuckle. Ashley laughs too and the deep rumble of her voice fills my stomach with warmth. I stare at the side of her face, at the way her nose crinkles up perfectly when she smiles. "Someday Ash," I say wistfully, pulling her in closer to me as we step onto an escalator. "You know…when we're not both living at home with our parents."_

_Ashley gasps suddenly, and looks over at me with wide eyes. "We still live with our parents?" she says in a fake frightened voice, and I just give her shoulder a shove._

"_You're such a dope," I say looking into her eyes. My breath catches a bit just having her look back at me. The brown of her eyes twinkles a bit and she leans in close, giving my nose a pinch._

"_You know you love me," she whispers with an exaggerated sigh and I just chuckle in response. We step off the escalator and she takes my hand again, pulling me towards another window shopping adventure. I don't know why I didn't say it right then... I __**do**__ love you Ashley Davies._

………………………………….

"You want to get out of here?" Evan asks, finishing the last sip of her soda. "Coach will kill us if we're late again."

I nod in agreement and we both stand to throw away our drinks. She takes my cup from my hand and tosses it into the trash, offering me a small smile as she does so.

"Thanks Ev," I say quickly, and she puts a hand on my arm.

"You don't have to pretend with me Spencer," she says, squeezing my arm some. "I know you're not happy here. I just wish I knew what was so good back in LA that you're so…distant."

I sigh and give her sideways look that I know she barely understands. "Can we just drop it?" I ask and her shoulder drops some.

"Yeah sure," she says, and she walks away without another glance at me. I feel bad for a moment. Evan has been nothing but good to me since I moved here, but I haven't quite figured out how to tell her _everything_. Hell, I've barely admitted it all to myself.

……………………………………

Coach blows the whistle signaling the end of practice and I instinctively drop the basketball in my hands. It bounces away slowly and I put my hands on my hips.

"Good practice today girls," Coach Troy says, checking off a few things on his clipboard. He looks up at us and nods toward Evan. She smiles and turns to the rest of the team.

"Everyone can go except the freshies," she says with a laugh. All the freshman sigh simultaneously and I have to suppress a chuckle myself. Evan is the team captain and resident bitch as far the freshman are concerned. Some days she keeps them forty minutes after practice just doing suicides. I walk over to the bleachers and grab my towel sitting on the bench. I wipe the sweat from my face and the back of my neck.

"Carlin" I hear Coach say in his deep gravel-like voice and I turn around. "Meeting in my office after you've showered" he says with a level stare and I just nod in response. I don't really know what this meeting will be about, but Coach is definitely not the kind of guy you ask superfluous questions. I grab my towel and water bottle and head toward the locker room, chuckling at the sound of freshman sneakers pounding against the gym floor.

…………………………………

"_Come on Ash! Can you at least try to keep up?" I yell over my shoulder as I finish my third lap. Ashley pants and stumbles behind me.  
_

"_I am…trying," she mumbles between heavy breaths. I whip around to face her, continuing to run backwards. She watches me with a furrowed brow. "Now you're just showing off Spence," she says with a roll of her eyes and I just chuckle to myself. She looks so cute when she's upset. Ashley averts her eyes and stares at her feet instead. I continue to run backwards, taking this chance to look her over. She's wearing a red sports bra and black tights, and her curly brown locks are swept up into a high ponytail. Even if she isn't the athletic type, she sure knows how to make the gear look fantastic._

"_Can we stop now?" Ashley finally pants out, her cheeks red with defeat._

"_You said you could do this Ash," I offer with a slight frown, and she finally looks up at me. The minutes those brown orbs are on me my heart melts. "Sure we can stop," I say without thinking. Ashley slows to steady walk and I fall into stride beside her. "You did good kiddo," I say bumping her shoulder and she just sighs dramatically._

"_I almost died Spence!" she says dramatically and I slap her arm. She looks up me in surprise and then pinches my arm. I raise my hand to slap her again, but she puts her arms up in surrender. "Hey there Carlin I'm not looking for a fight," she says in a mock serious tone and I stick out my tongue at her._

"_I'll see you back in the gym," I say picking up my pace a bit, and Ashley just nods. I push ahead of her on the track, and just when I'm about to really get my momentum going a feel a body crash against mine. Ashley tackles me to the ground and pins my arms behind my head. I struggle against her, but to no avail. She listens into my ear and breathes roughly. A shiver runs down my spine._

"_You may be the basketball star, but I can still beat you in a fight," she whispers and then she's off of me, running in the opposite direction. I scramble to my knees quickly and watch her race towards the gym doors. I work to catch my breath again and to shake the tingly feeling in my stomach. I can barely move. With one touch that girl can make my whole world spin._

………………………………………..

I knock softly on Coach Troy's door and a deep grumble is his only signal that I should enter. He is sitting at his desk eating a cheeseburger, and just waves to the seat before him. I sit down with a slight smile and wait as he takes another sloppy bite. His office is the most cluttered room that I've ever seen, a hodgepodge of trophies, slips of paper, and cheeseburger wrappers.

"Listen Carlin," he says through mouthful of food. I focus on his eyes instead of his mouth. "I know you were all-state back in California, but this team is about earning your keep. You can't just expect to be a star all over again."

I nod my head. "I know that coach."

"Be that as it may," he says sitting the cheeseburger down on his desk, "You're the best player out on that court, and with you being a senior I've only got one good year of play with you." He pauses here and picks some lettuce from between his teeth. "So I've to start you at point guard next week."

An alarm immediately goes off in my head, but Coach puts a hand up to stop the ocean of words about to leave my mouth. "I already talked to Evan about it, and she's fine with moving to shooting guard." I exhale heavily and a lazy smile appears on my face.

"Thanks so much coach," I say pulling my hair up into a sloppy ponytail. He eyes me warily and then picks up the half-eaten burger.

"You can go now Carlin." I stand quickly and exit without another word. Evan is waiting for me on the other side of the door with a huge smile on her face. She is wearing only a towel and her just washed jet black hair falls limply about her shoulders.

"Congratulations Spence," she says with a huge smile, and I wave her off with a hand. We link arms and walk back toward the locker rooms.

"Just get dressed so we can go out and celebrate," I counter and Evan chuckles, wrapping her arm around my waist. I can't help the disappointment that floods into my stomach as soon as she does this. No offense to Evan, but if there is anyone I would want to celebrate this day with it's a certain brunette on the other side of the country. I wish she was the one holding me right now.


End file.
